Trump policies have Capital Region activists gearing up for another march in D.C.

Rev. Daniel Carlson stands outside First Reformed Church on Wednesday, April 12, 2017 in Schenectady, N.Y. Rev. Carlson is among dozens of Capital Region residents who are going to a Climate Change march in Washington DC at the end of the month. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union) less

Rev. Daniel Carlson stands outside First Reformed Church on Wednesday, April 12, 2017 in Schenectady, N.Y. Rev. Carlson is among dozens of Capital Region residents who are going to a Climate Change march in ... more

Rev. Daniel Carlson sits outside First Reformed Church on Wednesday, April 12, 2017 in Schenectady, N.Y. Rev. Carlson is among dozens of Capital Region residents who are going to a Climate Change march in Washington DC at the end of the month. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union) less

Rev. Daniel Carlson sits outside First Reformed Church on Wednesday, April 12, 2017 in Schenectady, N.Y. Rev. Carlson is among dozens of Capital Region residents who are going to a Climate Change march in ... more

Rev. Daniel Carlson sits outside First Reformed Church on Wednesday, April 12, 2017 in Schenectady, N.Y. Rev. Carlson is among dozens of Capital Region residents who are going to a Climate Change march in Washington DC at the end of the month. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union) less

Rev. Daniel Carlson sits outside First Reformed Church on Wednesday, April 12, 2017 in Schenectady, N.Y. Rev. Carlson is among dozens of Capital Region residents who are going to a Climate Change march in ... more

For 19-year-old Angelica DeDona, climate change is walking the shoreline near her home on Long Island's north coast, seeing the beach steadily erode as extreme storms get stronger. For Tina Lieberman, it was having no apples or peaches on fruit trees in her Albany yard when the buds died after a late winter heat wave was followed by killing frost. And for Daniel Carlson, it was helping people clean up ravaged homes in Schoharie County after Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

While each has their own observations about climate change, shared conclusions over its dangers is leading them all to the same place. On April 29, the three are expected to be among about 200 Capital Region residents going to Washington, D.C. to join a nationally organized march that will support an international scientific consensus on the reality of ongoing man-made climate change driven by fossil fuel emissions.

"Climate change is real and important to a lot of people," said DeDona, a sophomore at Union College, where she is also president of the school's environmental club. "We should not take our Earth for granted. It should be one of our top priorities."

March organizers are hoping that attendance will top a 2014 march held in New York City that drew some 400,000 people from across the U.S. and around the world. The march has attracted increasing attention as President Donald J. Trump proposes slashing government support for climate science research and seeks to roll back climate protection policies of his predecessor, Barack Obama, including a program meant to limit greenhouse gas emissions from electrical power plants nationwide.

There are 200 local climate marches also planned April 29 across the U.S., including several near the Capital Region — in Hudson Public Square, Seventh and Warren streets, Hudson, at 11 a.m.; Walkway Over the Hudson, Poughkeepsie, at 1 p.m.; Crandall Park in Glens Falls, at 10 a.m; and Cherry Valley Old School in Cherry Valley, Otsego County.

The climate marches are coming a week after an Earth Day rally in Washington on Saturday that is being organized by more than 170 science-based organizations that view proposed Trump budget cuts in climate science, health research and other areas as partisan, misinformed and dangerous.

There are more than 400 local science marches taking place around the world, including one at the lawn outside the state Capitol at 1 p.m. Saturday. Another march is being held at noon that day in Congress Park in Saratoga Springs.

For Carlson, pastor of the First Reformed Church in Schenectady, concern over climate change also has a theological bent. "Over the last several years, our congregation has made an increasing commitment to 'creation care,' " said the 53-year-old.

Creation care claims a scriptural basis for protecting the Earth, and sees climate change and other forms of environmental degradation as consequences of forms of sins, such as materialism, greed, and selfishness.

"We have to be better stewards of faith, stewards of the world, rather an just exploiters," said Carlson, who with members of his church went to Middleburgh in Schoharie County to help clean up after Superstorm Sandy. "There was a lot of destruction, and we saw the community struggling," he said.

Carlson and others from the church also attended the 2014 climate march in New York City, which he called "inspiring." To embrace "creation care," his church now is exploring how to buy community-based solar power to provide to low- and moderate-income people who might not otherwise be able to support it, he said.

The local buses from the Capital Region to Washington for the April 29 march are being organized by the Sierra Club and the People of Albany United for Safe Energy/350.org. Bookings for remaining tickets may be made online through peoplesclimate.org.

Lieberman is an organizer with the Sierra Club. The 53-year-old, a native of New York City, moved to the Catskills about three decades ago, and later to Albany.

"I can remember when snow and ice was normal during the winter. Now spring is becoming all or nothing," she said. "People have to think about turning on their air conditioning in April."

Also making the bus ride to Washington will be Jeffrey Corbin, an associate biology professor at Union College where he studies plant ecology, soil nutrients and biodiversity.

"I have not seen anything like what is happening now in Washington during my whole career," said Corbin. "I have never felt more scared about the politics of climate change than I do right now."

He credited Union students, who will occupy about 30 seats on one of the buses heading to Washington from Albany, for making the trip happen. "I am more than happy to help them," he said.

On Monday, former Adirondacks resident and author Bill McKibben will speak at Union on the impacts of climate change on the Adirondacks. The free talk is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at Nott Memorial Chapel.

The national climate march comes as more Americans are growing concerned over the issue. A national poll of voters by Quinnipiac University, in Hamden, Conn., found that more than two-thirds answered that they were worried climate change could hurt them or someone they know.

"It's personal. Climate change is an existential threat, many voters feel," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. "They are concerned, and some are very concerned, about the looming menace of climate change.

And that concern apparently has been growing since the November election of Donald Trump, who has called climate change a "Chinese hoax" meant to reduce U.S. economic strength. The most recent poll, released April 1, found 76 percent of voters were either very or somewhat concerned about climate change. That is up from 68 percent just after the election.

And for younger voters like DeDona, between 18 and 34 years old, that concern was even greater, at 92 percent the poll found.

More people also disagree with President Trump's efforts to undo climate change policies, with 62 percent saying that it is wrong, up from 59 percent after the election. Nearly three voters in four also agreed it was a "bad idea" for President Trump to cut government funding for climate change and environmental research. The poll surveyed 1,171 voters across the U.S.